San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh took a shot at Green Bay Packers' Clay Matthews for the linebackers late hit on Colin Kaepernick and subsequent slap to 49ers tackle Joe Staley.
Matthews dealt Kaepernick a hit when the quarterback was clearly out of bounds. It resulted in a scuffle, with Staley rushing to his quarterback's defense and grappling with Matthews. The Packers linebacker shoved Staley, then threw a punch and a slap at the offensive lineman.
Harbaugh wasn't amused.
"I think that young man (Matthews) works very hard on being a tough guy," Harbaugh said on Monday, via ESPN. "He'll have some repairing to do to his image after the slap.
"... If you're going to go to the face, come with some knuckles, not an open slap."
Matthews denied any intention to purposefully hurt Kaepernick.
"I had already committed to hitting the quarterback," Matthews said, via ESPN. "I guess I should have figured he was going to step out of bounds. But it's nothing personal. I went up to him later and was joking around with him. But not a very smart play. And that's kind of the end of that."
Matthews had spoken last week about laying hits on Kaepernick to deter the mobile quarterback from running with the football, which fueled speculation that Matthews tried to get in a cheap shot.
"...You do have to take your shots on the quarterback, and obviously they're too important to their offense," Matthews said on Wednesday during "Mike and Mike," according to ESPN. "If that means they pull them out of that type of offense and make them run a traditional, drop-back, pocket-style offense, I think that's exactly what we're going for."
Packers coach Mike McCarthy defended Matthews amidst suggestions that the linebacker was a dirty player.
"Clay Matthews is not a dirty player, by no means," McCarthy said. "I addressed Harbaugh's comments in the team meeting and as always we'll stay above it."
